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Kirk first appeared in May 2000 when he was seen with his younger sister Maria Sutherland by a jealous Tyrone Dobbs. She explained the mix-up when they next met. Kirk was next seen in October 2000 at the engagement party of Tyrone and Maria. After his arrival on the Street he quickly became friends with Les Battersby-Brown, with whom he later lived, acting as best man at his wedding to Cilla Brown. In December 2003, Kirk dumped Fiz Brown after he found out that she had spent the night at her ex-boyfriend Tyrone Dobbs' house.

In January 2005, Kirk met Thelma Clegg, who hired him to shampoo her poodle. She was so impressed that she asked him to call round to her house regularly. Fiz was suspicious and followed Kirk to Thelma’s house where she could see Kirk being entertained by Thelma belly-dancing in her living room. Kirk professed his innocence and said Thelma wouldn’t let him out of the house.

In May 2007, Kirk lost his job at Sutherland's Kennels when he accidentally allowed a pedigree dog to be castrated, an act which single-handedly collapsed the business. Within a week he proposed to his girlfriend, Fiz. She dumped him immediately, and told him that she no longer wanted to be with him. She left Kirk to be with her first lover, John Stape, leaving Kirk feeling broken and humiliated. Later that month, Kirk and Jamie Baldwin rescued Claire Peacock, Kirk's next door neighbour, from her burning house. As a reward, Claire's husband, Ashley gave Kirk a job at his butchers shop.

After Fiz's mother, Cilla, left Weatherfield for Las Vegas on 12th October 2007, Kirk was left to look after her son, Chesney. Kirk failed to provide adequate care for Chesney, and he was subsequently taken into foster care. When Fiz returned from a holiday she went on, she was furious but forgave Kirk. She managed to get Chesney home but she had to move in with them, making Kirk believe she still had feelings for him.

In April 2008, Kirk left to visit his parents in Cyprus for a several weeks. In the days leading up to his return, Fiz dreaded him coming home, while she was providing a home for Chesney. On his return, he broke the news that he had a new girlfriend called Julie Carp, who he fell in love with in Cyprus. Fiz took a dislike to Julie, who moved in with them at No.5.

In 2012, Kirk offered to drive Beth Tinker to a date with a man named Dave. However, the date went wrong, and Kirk ended up getting punched when he called Dave an idiot. Kirk and Beth eventually became closer, and got married in January 2015.

Before Andrew Whyment debuted in the role in October 2000, the character had appeared briefly several months earlier in a long-shot played by an unknown walk-on actor. In the following episode the man was revealed as Maria's brother, although was identified as "Mark" at the time rather than Kirk.

Mr Whyment quit the role in 2003 to work on a new Carry on movie entitled Carry on London. However due to script problems with the film and the rumour it would do poorly, Whyment pulled out and was offered a return to Coronation Street (the film would never see a release, due to constantly changing production and cast over the next several years before finally being cancelled in 2009).